1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle, configured to control a hybrid vehicle provided, for example, with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor as a power source.
2. Description of the Related Art
For this type of control apparatus for the hybrid vehicle, there is known an apparatus configured to switch between transmission stages in view of regenerative power. For example, WO2013/035730 discloses a technology in which it is determined whether or not the transmission stage is actually switched based on a first charge amount by regeneration while the transmission stage is held and a second charge amount by regeneration while the transmission stage is changed. According to such a technology, it is considered that the regenerative power can be efficiently obtained during gear shift so that fuel efficiency of the vehicle can be improved.
In the hybrid vehicle, if it is required to reduce engine output, i.e. if there is an engine output reduction request, the engine output is maintained at a predetermined value or more to prevent a misfire. In this case, a battery may be charged with excess engine output with respect to required output, as the regenerative power. On the other hand, even if it is required to shift up, i.e. even if there is an upshift request, there is an output increment due to the transmission stage shifting. Even in this case, if the battery is charged with the output increment as the regenerative power, energy can be efficiently used without a waste.
If, however, the engine output reduction request and the upshift request occur simultaneously, the regenerative power becomes too high and exceeds an allowable maximum charging power, which is technically problematic. Moreover, if the charging power is forcibly suppressed even though it is required to perform charging over the allowable maximum charging power, unexpected driving force variation or the like causes a reduction in drivability, which is also technically problematic.